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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25197664">On the Road Again</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ObsidianSparrow/pseuds/ObsidianSparrow'>ObsidianSparrow</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Elder Scrolls Online</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Eventual Romance, F/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 09:34:12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,519</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25197664</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ObsidianSparrow/pseuds/ObsidianSparrow</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>I finished the Greymoor chapter in a ridiculous amount of time and wanted more Fennorian so I made some for myself! It's mostly self indulgent. Meant to take place after the events of the Daggerfall Covenant quest line as well as the Greymoor chapter!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Fennorian (Elder Scrolls)/Original Female Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>17</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Nym wasn’t convinced that they would find any trace of Rada-al-Saran. It wasn’t like they had any real information they were following after anyway, just a series of rumors that they’d heard whispered in the Solitude taverns. But Lyris had been convinced that it was a better use of their time than sitting around waiting for something to happen. ‘I just know that bastard is going to poke his head up somewhere. We need to be ready to chop it off when that happens’. Nym could hear the half-giantess’s words now. The memory made her smile. But it had been weeks since she’d last seen Lyris and even longer that she’d slept in a comfortable bed. Not for the first time, green eyes slid to her companion. Fennorian didn’t seem like much, especially in a fight. If it weren’t for the simple fact that the Mer was a vampire, Nym would have been unwilling to take him with her at all.</p><p>“It looks like the nearest city is quite a few days off yet. We might be better off finding a nice warm place to make camp for the night Ta’linn,” Fenn commented. He hadn’t even noticed her staring. One hand casually gripped the reins of his horse, but his other hand held a map and that was where his nose was buried. Not even an upwards glance at the road.</p><p>“Lucky us,” Nym muttered, her tail twitching behind her in irritation. She was tired of the road and the lack of progress.</p><p>“Did you say something?” Fennorian emerged from behind his map to look at her quizzically.</p><p>“Nothing,” Nym dismissed. She peered at the road before them then glanced upwards to the sky. The sun was starting to make its lazy descent towards the hills. They still had plenty of light left, but she could smell rain on the air. “Let’s make for that outcropping just ahead. There’s wet on its way and I’ve no interest in being soaked.”<br/>
Fennorian didn’t argue with her or question the statement. No doubt he could smell the storm coming as well. Nym wasn’t sure just how heightened his senses were, vampires were a tricky lot and tight lipped about it, but she had no doubt that he’d sensed the rain even before she had.</p><p>They made camp against a stone monolith that jutted out from the ground. Nym was thankful, not for the first time, for Skyrim’s rocky terrain. It made camping much easier, though trekking across it was not nearly so simple. She and Fennorian didn’t talk, rather they fell into the comfortable roles they’d assumed on the trip. Fenn took care of the bed rolls and their things which left Nym to settle the horses. She’d just finished tending them when the wind started to pick up. The chill made her thankful for the stone cave around them, though she noted with some irritation that there was still no fire. Not for lack of trying though, judging from the half charred pile of tinder in front of Fennorian. The Mer looked torn between being puzzled and being frustrated.</p><p>“It doesn’t matter how many times I try, making a campfire eludes me. All for the better I suppose considering how flammable vampires are,” Fenn chirped, taking a step back so Nym could take over.</p><p>“Alchemy is far more complicated, one would think, than setting fire to dry grass and twigs.” Nym kneeled down and rifled through the tinder Fenn had collected, offering a low hiss of irritation. “Though dry is a rather important part of that formula.” She plucked out a piece of damp grass with her claws and pushed it towards Fennorian’s face accusingly.</p><p>“That does seem ideal,” he chuckled sheepishly, seemingly oblivious to Nym’s frustration.</p><p>After a bit of fiddling, she managed to get the fire started. By then, the wind had turned to rain and it was coming down in a fine mist. The horses didn’t seem to mind, despite being only part way under the overhang of slate. All the same, Nym eyed them carefully. It would do no good to have their mounts grow ill. Then they’d be stuck in the middle of the wilderness with only their feet to guide them.</p><p>“Hungry?” Fennorian produced a loaf of bread from his pack and pushed it towards her. They’d refilled on as many supplies as they could carry before they’d left Dragonbridge. Nym reached for the bread and muttered a thanks.</p><p>They sat in a comfortable silence for a time. Nym watched the rain as Fennorian scribbled quietly in his journal. There was something soothing about the light patter of rain and the long strokes of the pencil nub. She hardly realized she was drifting off until one of the horses gave a start. That jerked her back awake, ears swiveling to pinpoint any unnatural noise. Fennorian chuckled.</p><p>“There’s no need to worry, we’re quite safe. I do believe that it was a fox that startled the horses.” Fennorian had pushed himself up against the outcropping wall and looked quite cozy, the crimson eyes peaceful and calm. His open flask sat beside him. Its coppery, sharp smell made Nym’s nose twitch. Though she couldn’t say it was unpleasant.<br/>
“Tzinghalis didn’t suffer enough for what he did to you.”</p><p>Nym spoke with vicious conviction. While Fennorian was still half a stranger to her, she considered him a friend. Even if she had not, no living thing deserved the torture that the exarch had exacted upon Fennorian. Had time allowed it, had they not been fighting an uphill battle against the Icereach Coven and saving all of Western Skyrim, Nym would have taken her time with Tzinghalis.</p><p>“Whatever he may have deserved, he’s dead now,” Fennorian said with a bleak smile.</p><p>“I could change that,” Nym hissed quietly, glancing at her staff. She looked back to Fenn and let some of her anger slide away. This was not the time or place for it. “Are you alright?”</p><p>“Just fine.” When Nym didn’t seem satisfied, Fenn offered a smile that was only incrementally more convincing. “If you keep looking so concerned, I might start thinking that you’re getting soft, Ta’linn.”</p><p>Nym scoffed and flopped back onto her blankets, huddling down in their soft warmth as she tucked her tail up against her legs. She shut her eyes only briefly as Fennorian settled into his own bedroll beside her. One eye cracked open to watch the vampire pull his blankets up to ward off the chill of the wind.<br/>

“That’s not my name, you know. Not my real one at least.” Nym stifled a yawn. “It’s the one I give people, but my real name is Nymue. Nym for short. Ta’linn the Shadow just sounds much more intimidating when you’re looking for mercenary work.”</p><p>“I always wondered why Lyris called you that.”</p><p>“You can use it, if you’d like. Since we’re going to be traveling together for the near future. We sort of collectively gave you a nickname without your say so. It only seems fitting.” Nym didn’t bother trying to hide a second yawn, resting her head on her pillow as the sound of the rain started to lull her to sleep.</p><p>“I would very much like that. Thank you...Nym."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“What do you mean I’m the first Khajiit you’ve met?” Nym demanded with an incredulous laugh. The road stretched out endlessly before them and the birds chirped happily around them. All in all it was a beautiful morning and there were only minimal traces of the violent storm the night before.  Nym leaned forward in her saddle a bit to get a better look at Fennorian who looked thoroughly embarrassed. “You’re part of House Ravenwatch, which is now led by a Khajit!”<br/>
“Adusa-Daro doesn’t count!” Fenn insisted. If vampires had been able to blush, she was sure that he would have been as red as a cherry.<br/>
“Being a vampire doesn’t stop you from being anything else!”<br/>
“Well...no.” For a moment, Fennorian seemed to flounder for words. “You’re the first non-vampiric Khajiit I’ve met.”<br/>
Nym snorted in laughter and leaned on the pommel of her saddle. The horses seemed content to plod along the road without much direction, which was nice. But it meant that there wasn’t much for the two of them to do but talk. That wouldn’t have been an issue if they hadn’t already been on the road for nearly three weeks. They’d exhausted pretty much every avenue of small talk that there was and she wasn’t interested in being put to sleep by another of Fennorian’s long rants on alchemy and arcane arts.<br/>
“That’s still a little absurd,” Nym pointed out with a smirk. “Are you a racist, Fenn?”<br/>
“It’s not like I’ve avoided them. It’s just never happened I suppose. It isn’t as if Altmer are particularly enthusiastic about sharing their isles with non-native folk. And the only other place I’ve lived is Castle Ravenwatch,” Fennorian pointed out. It was the most Nym had ever heard him talk about his origins prior to being a vampire which made it a tempting piece of information to push at. But Nym instead stored the knowledge away for the moment.<br/>
“Well I can’t say that you’re the first Altmer I’ve met, or the first vampire for that matter,” Nym replied. “Though I can say you’re the only Altmer I’ve ever met that I can stand.”<br/>
“I don’t think anyone would claim that they're terribly inviting people.”<br/>
Around them, the rain seemed to have brought new life into the countryside. Thick blankets of mountain flowers were starting to open, drops of dew still clinging to their petals. In the distance, Nym watched a herd of elk eye them warily then disappear over a ridge. It was hard to imagine vampires in a place like this, hard to imagine the horrors of the Harrowstorm that had raged over Solitude. If the Icereach Coven had their way then the picturesque landscape would look very different. There would be no elk and no distant tendrils of smoke from farms. There would only be blood.<br/>
“Fenn?”<br/>
“Yes, Nym?”<br/>
“Let's say that you are able to cure all of the Harrowed. What will become of them?” Nym aked. She didn’t look back to the vampire riding at her side, eyes sweeping across the greenery of the landscape instead. “If you can cure them will they be mortal or vampire?”<br/>
“With any luck they’ll resume being mortal.” Nym didn’t have to see Fenn to hear the pensive worry in his voice. She knew that he wasn’t particularly confident in his current method of curing the Harrowed. When he wasn’t busy studying their progress on the map, he was busy scribbling away in his alchemy journal. “I don’t know what will happen to them if they become vampires.”<br/>
“Couldn’t they become part of House Ravenwatch?” Now Nym did look at Fennorian.<br/>
“Some, I suppose. But it isn’t as easy as just joining. Most would have to be...destroyed if they became vampires. Some would be in control of themselves but I worry that most would be nothing more than rabid thralls.”<br/>
A crow landed on a tree nearby and eyed them curiously. Nym watched it ponder for a moment then offer an indignant croak when they got to close before it took off again.<br/>
“That bothers you. The idea of having to kill them.”<br/>
“Doesn’t it you?” Fenn sounded shocked.  “They’re innocent people who didn’t ask for such a terrible thing to happen to them!”<br/>
Nym could hear the indignation in Fennorian’s voice. When she looked back at him there was shock etched onto the Mer’s face. She wondered if that was why Verandis had chosen him for House Ravenwatch, that softness. Most vampires lacked it, they had to destroy that part of themselves in order to survive. But Fennorian seemed to be all softness. It would have spelled out death for him if he’d been left to fend for himself like most. It also spoke to his youth. The vampires she'd met were all older, had already lost that optimism.<br/>
“I think I would rather be killed than live life as some mindless animal. If my two choices are to become some feral vampire or to die, then I would rather die.”<br/>
“You don’t think that they would deserve a chance? To prove that they could be more?” There was a challenge in Fennorian’s voice, and behind that anger.  “You would kill them outright on the assumption that they would all become feral and lose no sleep over it?”<br/>
“Very little makes me lose sleep, Fennorian.”<br/>
“I don’t think you’re as heartless as that, Nym,” Fenn replied. There was still some of the anger in his voice, but it seemed to be rapidly fading. Instead, there was a sort of gentle knowing, a prodding that drove Nym up a wall. Fennorian tended to adopt the tone when he thought he’d figured something out. It was only made more infuriating by the fact that he was oftentimes right.<br/>
“And how do you figure that?” Nym asked, urging her horse into a brisker pace. She heard Fennorian’s horse keep pace a few steps behind.<br/>
“Because someone so heartless would have let me die in Tzinghalis’s lab. Instead you freed me and fed me.” Fenn trotted to fall into place beside her now and she could feel those pensive crimson eyes on her back. “For all purposes I was a very feral vampire. What made me worth saving?”<br/>
Nym started to retort hotly, to make sure Fennorian knew exactly where he stood in the scope of things. She turned towards the vampire, jerking her horse to a hard halt. But she never got the chance. An arrow whizzed by her head, barely clipping the edge of her hood. Her horse reared up in fright as another arrow buried itself on the road in front of them. Nym’s hand flew back towards her staff, calm replacing the instinctual panic as soon as her claws touched the familiar wood.<br/>
The bandits had camped themselves in a copse of trees a few hundreds yards off of the road. She was sure that they were not the first travelers to be caught unaware. As Nym vaulted off of her horse she spotted four of them at least, all unwashed and haggard looking miscreants. Desperate men who had turned to a life of crime. Only one appeared to have a bow and he was struggling with knocking another arrow. Apparently he wasn’t very good with it.<br/>
“You’ll make a fine rug, cat!”<br/>
One of them charged her, his dagger raised high. Nym darted forward with little fear, her staff glowing a grisly green color as lightning arced from the crystal atop it. The bandit fell dead before he even got close to her. She heard the third running away, even as the archer finally managed to knock another arrow. There was fear on the man’s face as she started towards him, absolute panic. Eyes darted from her to the body at her feet. But the arrow that he loosed found its mark. It buried in her shoulder with a dull thud that stopped her in her tracks.<br/>
Surprise overtook the panic on the archer’s face. He seemed just as surprised that he’d managed to hit Nym as she was. Emboldened by his success, the archer started forward with his remaining compatriot.<br/>
“Ha I think you’re bleeding!”<br/>
The archer seemed to revel in their apparent victory, moving forward with the bow upheld. Nym bared her fangs and raised her staff a second time, ignoring the shooting pain that radiated from the wound all the way down her shoulder.<br/>
Already pale with death, the corpse rose and buried its dagger in the archer’s throat. The thrall did not wait to see if the projectile had found its mark. A gurgling gasp told it all it needed to know. Instead it turned its attention immediately on the remaining bandit, wrapping its fingers around the man’s throat with inhuman strength. Choking and gasping for breath, the man fell to his knees and scrabbled at the fingers around his neck. He tore at skin but the corpse bore down on him, oblivious to something as mundane as pain. The bandits eyes bugged out of his head, rolling back in sheer terror.<br/>
“Nym that’s enough!” Fennorian shouted from behind her and broke her concentration. The corpse seemed to shiver and shudder only a moment before it  fell into ash, finally breaking its grip on the bandit. The job had been done though, the bandit’s face was frozen in a look of mute horror, fingers still clenched as if they would wrest away the hands around his throat.<br/>
“Do you have a death wish? That man could have killed us!” Nym hissed, using her good hand to gesture back towards the bodies. How dare Fennorian interrupt her? “And where were you? Some good you are in a fight! What sort of vampire are you?”<br/>
“You reacted before I had a chance to,” Fennorian said in that infuriatingly calm way of his. He started towards her, hands outstretched as if he were worried she would lash out at him too. There was more concern on his face that there was fear though. Nym had to give him some points for that. Necromancy turned most people’s stomachs. “Let me look at that injury, you’re bleeding quite badly.”<br/>
“It’s fine.” Grasping at the arrow still embedded in her shoulder, Nym didn’t wait for Fenn to protest as she ripped it out. The pain took her by surprise though and made the world shimmer before her eyes. Usually she was much better at dodging arrows and supposed it was the first time she’d ever pulled one out herself. It looked so much simpler than it was. Feeling woozy, she took a hesitant step forward and nearly ended up on the ground. Luckily Fennorian saved her from bashing her head on the nearest rock. Passing out would have been a mercy though. The pain made her want to vomit and Fenn’s feet.<br/>
“You know I’m sure that looked quite impressive, but it's probably the last thing you want to do.” Fennorian chided. She thought she heard some smug humor in his voice, but couldn’t be sure.<br/>
“You were impressed, don’t lie.” Nym hated the breathless sound of her own voice.<br/>
“You’ve caught me I’m afraid. I am absolutely floored by the impressive way you pulled an arrow out of a wound with no regard for causing more damage and then nearly fainted. Quite impressed.”<br/>
“There’s no need to be an ass about it.”<br/>
Nym let Fennorian help her into a sitting position, wincing at the pain that seemed to come from the entire left side of her body. The cool of Fenn’s fingers felt rather nice, as they worked at the straps and clasps holding her armor in place. Frowning Nym clumsily reached to stop him, batting at his hands. She’d seen him wave his hands and heal wounds before, albeit scratches and scrapes.<br/>
“I need to get a better look at the injury before I can heal it,” Fennorian explained patiently. He didn’t seem deterred by her half-hearted attempts to stop him. “You’re losing blood so I’m afraid there’s little time to worry about modesty.”<br/>
Figuring there was little point in arguing, Nym sat back and let Fennorian work. She watched him struggle with the clasps for just a moment longer before he managed to undo them. The leather armor slid away then, leaving her sitting in nothing but a white cotton undershirt. The sudden cool made her shiver. Fenn’s fingers pushed aside the loose linen from her shoulder and Nym could smell the blood then, the coppery sting of it.<br/>
“Almost done now, Nym. Stay with me…”<br/>
Fenn steadied her, placing one hand on the right side of her ribcage as he pressed the flat of his other hand against the wound. It brought a fresh wave of pain that Nym bared her teeth against. But warmth overtook the pain in a matter of moments. The gentle golden glow of healing magic washed over her and into the wound. It made her sleepy.<br/>
“You’re not so useless to have around I suppose,” Nym responded grudgingly, looking from the glow up to Fennorian’s intensely focused features.<br/>
“It’s good to know that I’m good for something, in the very least,” Fennorian joked. He watched her carefully, as if expecting her to pass out. And squeezed her side as if to keep her in the moment. “You’ll need some rest after this. A day or two perhaps.”<br/>
“I can ride just fine in the saddle with one hand.”<br/>
“I’m afraid that wasn’t a suggestion.” Fenn smiled bracingly at her and looked back to where their mounts had just been. There were no horses in sight, but Nym could see them off in the distance. Apparently the battle had spooked them thoroughly. “Though you’re welcome to try and get to the nearest town on foot. It might be a bit of a journey though.”</p>
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